But Gus was not so sure about the second, more ill-defined, set of footprints. Could they belong to the strange creature Dawn spotted the night before? Did that mean the Keeper was doing some tracking of his own?
Suddenly, Gus heard a rumbling sound. He looked up and almost stumbled straight into the rump of a squat, armored, butt-ugly dinosaur, which he compared to a giant armadillo. On second glance, he realized it wasn’t much like an armadillo, after all; the creature had thick, bony plates and a few spikes on its back and another bony plate covering the top of its skull.
Gus caught a whiff of something bad and realized he’d just heard the biggest fart of his life. He took a closer look and recognized the four-legged beast as an ankylosaur from one of Harry’s endless lectures. He also recalled Harry saying it was probably one of the dumber dinosaurs, a lumbering herbivore that often traveled alone in search of plants.
Gus watched the beast for a moment, hoping it would move on, but it didn’t budge. It was methodically eating its way through a huge patch of ferns.
Damn! He gagged as the ankylosaur’s stench enveloped him. He held his breath as he eyed the animal’s tail, which had a nasty-looking bony club at its tip. Stepping aside, he waded waist-deep through the ferns, while keeping an eye on the lethal posterior. One hit with the tail-club, he realized, and he’d be dead meat for sure.
The ankylosaur continued to browse on the ferns, seemingly oblivious to Gus’s presence.
Without looking back, Gus exhaled loudly. The three-toed tracks were still distinct. Demon footprints, he thought with venomous certainty. It’s like I’m tracking Lucifer himself.
He raced on toward the hills. But he wasn’t scared. No way. Oh, his guts churned with outrage, especially when he considered what the Keeper had done to Dawn, but there was logic in his actions, too. If the Keeper had arrived here in the flesh, it meant he had a plan. Was he heading toward something?
Again, Gus remembered Dawn’s description of the weird dinosaur-humanoid. Could the Keeper be trying to prevent that creature from leaving Earth? Were both of them going to the same place, toward a time portal located somewhere in the distance?
He realized he might have stumbled on a way to get back to the future. He smiled to himself. And if he did happen to find the Keeper before he left Cretaceous Earth, what then?
I’ll kill him, Gus thought icily. Screw the consequences. Blind hatred surged inside of him. All he wanted now was one shot. That’s all it’d take. Just one clean shot, and he’d take care of him once and for all.
Gus ran on. After another half hour or so, he reached an area surrounded by tall, limestone bluffs. A noisy, bubbling creek flowed past the rocks. On the shore stood copses of trees that looked like cottonwoods. He stopped and stared. The area reminded him of the Guadalupe Mountains of West Texas.
Puffing hard, he studied the opposite shore. Both creatures had gone straight through the water, for the tracks came out on the other stream bank and then ascended a passageway formed by a cleft in the cliff-face. At the base of the wide, limestone escarpment, a terraced slope rolled down to the water. Even from this angle, Gus could tell it was covered with broken rock, soil, and clumps of flowering bushes.
Gus knelt down, took a long drink out of the creek, then got to his feet and pressed on. After splashing through the water, he reached the bank and stopped briefly, looking for any signs of life. There were scattered dinosaurs tracks here and there, but the only living things around were some dragonflies and a few weird turtles with long tails, sunning themselves on a log near the water.
Nothing, however, looked otherworldly.
“Gusss!”
He blinked.
“Gusss!” Both times, the name was hissed out, snakelike.
Gus turned and spotted the Keeper. The alien stood about twenty meters away, beneath the limestone rock shelter. He was tall and muscular and bronze as a statue, with a hawklike face that looked tough and arrogant, and a big whip of a tail.
A huge, reptilian-humanoid motherfucker.
“You cannot ssstop me,” the Keeper shouted, flicking his tail sideways like an annoyed tomcat.
“Wanna bet?” Gus felt deadly calm. He raised his gun, aimed for the alien’s head, and fired.
As quick as a thought, the Keeper leapt backward toward the bluff and disappeared. A cloud of dust burst from the cliff-face, indicating the ammo had missed him, hitting the rocks instead.
Where the hell was he? Gus lowered his weapon and cautiously moved forward. When he reached the spot where the Keeper had stood, he looked at the ground. Loose rubble hid any sign of tracks. Just where had he gone?
After Gus started poking around, he caught sight of a shadowy spot beneath the cliff overhang. He moved closer and saw it was a cave entrance. It looked like it was big enough for something man-sized to fit through.
He walked forward until he could feel a draught of cool air streaming from the pitch-black depths. So, he thought, the Keeper didn’t vanish. He’s down there somewhere.
Gus stopped, considering his options. He’d been in only one cave in his entire life. When he was around seven years old, his parents had taken him down to Kickapoo Caverns in Texas. He remembered being scared to death in a place called Green Cave, especially when he saw the bat flights at dusk. His daddy had held onto his hand then, telling him that big boys didn’t cry at little ol’ pesky bats.
Gus looked around, painfully aware of the differences now. There were no bats around here – they hadn’t evolved yet – and his father wouldn’t be born for eons.
Shaking his head, he regarded the cave entrance. If he did go in, would the Keeper be waiting for him? The alien would have the advantage. Since Gus had no flashlight, he’d be fumbling around in the dark.
Suddenly, he felt the silent-mode vibration of his communicator. He had ignored several buzzes he’d felt while tracking the Keeper – he assumed Dawn had been trying to reach him – but he needed to talk to someone now. He reached into his pocket. “What is it?” he bluntly asked.
“Gus!” Dawn said. Her worried face stared back at him on the screen. “Gus, are you all right? Jean-Michel’s got you on J-Stars. Harry and Kris are coming in the Rover. They’ll be at your position soon.”
“No, they’ll only complicate––”
“Listen to me,” Dawn cut in, emphatically. “You can’t do this alone!”
“How do you know what I’m doin’?”
“We know what you’re up to, because Tasha did a genetic test on the feather.” Dawn’s words came out in a rush. “And, and because the DNA – if you can call it that – is quite different. The amino acids twist to the right, not to the left.”
“Say what?”
“Gus, Tasha explained it to me this way ... that amino acids exist in so-called left-handed and right-handed versions. Life on Earth uses the left-twisting orientation, but the amino acids on the feather twist to the right. So, they’re not from Deinonychus. In fact, they’re not of this world. The feather belongs to an alien. The Keeper.”
“Tell me about it,” Gus said as he heard the faint rumble of the Rover in the distance.
“Will you wait for Harry and Kris? Will you promise me?”
He scowled at her questions, then nodded. Admit it, he thought. You do need help.
“Yeah, sure. I’ll wait.” He turned as Harry and Kris came into view. “They’re here. Talk to you later, Dawn.”
“Take care of yourself.”
“I always do, darlin’. You know that.”
Through slitted eyes, Gus glanced back at the cave. Then he put away his communicator, scrambled down the rocks, and ran back to meet his crew.
***
“Dinosauroid!” Harry shouted as Kris parked the Rover. He held one of the long-tailed turtles, waving it in his hand as he repeated, “Dinosauroid!”
“Looks like a turtle to me, bud,” Gus said flatly.
With a distracted look, the paleontologist glanced at the turtle. “Oh, no. This is a
baenid. What I’m talking about––”
“Uh huh.” Gus managed a sardonic grin. “Just what are you talkin’ about, Harry?” He swung his left leg into the vehicle and sat down. “First, don’t you want to know what I’ve been doin’?”
Harry opened his mouth to speak.
“Yes. Please, do tell us, Commander,” Kris said, giving Harry an assertive look that demanded silence. “We saw the trail and assumed you were following the tracks for a reason. You believe they were made by the Keeper, isn’t that so?”
Gus nodded. “He’s hiding in the cave up there.” He pointed to the cleft in the limestone bluff. “I got a shot off at him, but he was too damned quick.”
“You saw him? You actually saw him?” Harry looked like he could’ve jumped for joy. “So, what’d he look like?”
“Like a dinosaur-man.”
“Holy shit!” Harry exclaimed.
“I don’t see a cave.” Squinting through her glasses, Kris peered at the side of the cliff.
Gus shook his head. “You can’t see it from here.”
“And you think he’s still in there?” Harry asked as he started to put the turtle into a specimen cage.
“Let it go,” Gus ordered him, the beginnings of a plan percolating in his brain; more specimens were the last thing they needed now.
Harry stared at him, and then, without a word, he put the creature on the ground. It slowly began to crawl off toward the stream.
They watched it for a moment, until Harry repeated, “You think the Keeper’s still in the cave, don’t you?”
“Yup. Unless there’s another way out.” Gus frowned at the thought.
Kris stared at him. “What are you thinking, Commander?”
“Suppose the cave is a passageway back to Mars?” Gus speculated. “Or even a way back to the future?”
“Hmm.” Kris nodded. “Consider what Dawn told us about the Keeper and his apparent references to a time paradox. Why would he be able to travel to the past at this time, when a few days ago, he had to inhabit your body in order to communicate with Dawn?”
Gus looked over at Harry. From the expression on his face, it was clear he too was at a loss for an explanation.
“Well, I think I’ve figured it out,” Kris said. “He’s the same Keeper, all right, but he’s from a different time period. Somehow, he’s gotten his body back – remember how he told Dawn he was dead in their initial conversation? – but now he’s alive. He’s even found a way to make his body stronger.”
“What do you mean?” Gus asked.
“Remember when he told Dawn his species could not live on the Earth because of its gravity? Well, somehow he’s made his body more robust. It’s able to withstand the pull of Earth’s gravity. Maybe he did it through manipulation of his genetic structure. Advanced genetic engineering could produce such results, but I don’t know. Whatever’s happened, he’s found a way to journey back to this place. Perhaps the cave has some sort of passageway for traveling through time.”
“You’re readin’ my mind, Kris,” Gus said.
“That’s why the information about the dinosauroid is so important,” Harry said. “I figured it out.” He reached for his communicator. “Back in the 1980s, a paleontologist named Dale Russell came up with a unique thought experiment. Russell postulated life would have developed differently had the comet not hit the Yucatan at the end of the Cretaceous.”
“Yeah,” Gus said, “and ducks have wings. We all knew that.”
“But according to Russell, if dinosaurs had been able to evolve further, maybe one of them, one species specifically, could have developed into intelligent beings, which he called the dinosauroids.” Harry thrust his communicator under Gus’s nose. “Look. This is the dinosauroid model Russell used to illustrate his thought experiment.”
Gus stared at the screen. There was a picture of a middle-aged man in late twentieth century dress – Dale Russell, no doubt – with two dinosaurlike models. One looked a hell of a lot like the Troodon they’d captured the night before, while the other...
Gus’s gaze fixed on the creature in the photograph. It was a kind of dinosaur-man. And it looked like a smaller, more delicate version of the Keeper.
“See what I mean?” Harry asked. “Troodon is the best candidate for the proposed ancestral species, by the way. For a dinosaur, Troodon’s smart, a carnivore with an upright posture, stereoscopic vision, and opposable thumbs. Given the chance, it could have easily evolved further, become a tool-maker and gained self-awareness. No other dinosaur had this potential.” He smiled. “Just like humanity’s ancestors. Same features as the australopithecines, except, of course, that Troodon isn’t a mammal.”
“Did Dawn see this picture?” Gus asked, still studying the screen. “Did she see any resemblance to that thing she spotted the other night?”
“Yes to both your questions,” Harry said, putting his communicator away. “Except you’ll recall she said her creature had feathers on its head.”
Gus whistled. “Then tell me this... if what the Keeper said was true, if his species did evolve in another part of the galaxy, then how come he resembles a dinosauroid?”
“Ever heard of convergent evolution?” Harry asked.
“Can’t say that I have.” Gus glanced around, suddenly feeling vulnerable. “Before you launch into one of your lectures, we should do something about our position. We’re sitting ducks if some predator comes this way.”
On Gus’s orders, Kris started the engine and moved the Rover to a secure position near the cliff-face, but away from the area by the cave entrance. Gus decided to ride shotgun, manning the E-M cannon as he watched the bluffs for any sign of movement. Harry had his back to Gus, his gun ready if anything came up the other way.
As soon as they were in position, Kris turned off the Rover and reached for her weapon. “Just in case,” she said as she placed the gun in her lap.
“Regarding convergent evolution,” Harry said, “well, it’s the process where––”
“We don’t have time for this now,” Gus said, cutting him off. “It’ll have to wait until later.” He opened one of the Rover’s storage compartments and fumbled around for a flashlight. “Who wants to volunteer to go into the cave with me?” he asked, glancing back at Harry and Kris.
“I’ll go,” Kris said.
Harry sighed. “Me, too. I’ll wear a headset. Even with the rocks above our heads, Jean-Michel might be able to monitor us.”
“Good idea,” Gus said, “but we’ll all wear them. We can affix flashlights to our guns and headsets. That way, each of us will have two lights. No matter what happens, we’ll be able to see and communicate with one another.”
He looked down at his T-shirt and shorts, then glanced over at the storage bin in the rear of the Rover. “Are the jackets still in there?” he asked.
Kris nodded. She reached down, popped open the lid on the storage bin, and retrieved three jackets.
While Harry and Kris readied the equipment, Gus reached for his communicator. “Destiny, do you copy?”
Jean-Michel’s image flickered onto the screen. “I copy, Gus.”
“I copy, too,” Dawn said.
Gus fiddled with the visuals until he stared at two split/screen images. “Roger that, Valiant,” he said as he gave Dawn a nod, then told them about his plans for exploring the cave.
“Do you think you should take the risk?” Dawn asked.
Tasha moved into view, momentarily sharing the screen with Dawn. “I think you should come back. We must leave planet soon.”
“We’ll be back in plenty of time,” Gus told her. “But first, we’ve got to see what’s in the cave. Even if the Keeper is in there, well, the cave could be our ticket out of here. Maybe we can get home.”
“Communication may be a problem. Interference because of the rock walls will probably prevent our speaking to one another,” Jean-Michel said. “You will be on your own then, Commander. I agree with Dawn and Tasha. I think you should go ba
ck to the lander.”
“Please, don’t do this because of some vendetta, Gus,” Dawn pleaded.
“Don’t say that to me,” he gently admonished her. “I’m doin’ what I have to do. This is for all of us. For our future.”
***
Harry, Gus, and Kris stood by the entrance of the cave, silent but for their breathing, hands gripping their guns. The broken rocks beneath their feet would make it a difficult trek into the depths. Because they had two ropes, a small pick, and three collapsible shovels, along with their headsets, lights, and weapons, Harry felt cautiously optimistic about their chances of making a safe exploration of the cavern.
“Jean-Michel, do you copy?” Harry asked as he adjusted the viewing lens of his VR headset and poked his head inside the cave. The air was cold and dank. He took a few steps forward and looked back at Kris and Gus.
The reply sounded faint. “I copy that,” Jean-Michel said. “I’m able to track you with the ground-penetrating radar––”
Suddenly, the pilot’s voice faded to static, replaced by a grating buzz.
“Damn it,” Harry said as he walked back into the sunlight. He saw Gus gazing at the sky.
“Jean-Michel, keep trackin’ us with radar,” Gus said. “Since it seems we won’t be able to talk to you, we’ll have to take our chances inside.”
“Roger that. And good luck.”
Gus turned on his lights and then signaled for Harry and Kris to move forward. Slowly, they slipped into the cave. From somewhere in the distance, they heard soft, tinkling noises, the sound of water flowing over pebbles in an underground stream.
The com-link between their boots and headsets kept track of the distance they traveled. When they had moved about two hundred meters inside, they reached a narrowing in the passageway. The trio halted when they spied the low ceiling, which looked too small even for an average-sized woman to crawl through.
Gus frowned. “I’m not sure if I can fit past this without clearing some of the rocks.”
Harry nodded. He was nearly as big as Gus, and he knew he couldn’t make it, either.
“I think I just might be able to slip through this,” Kris said.
Dragon Dawn (Dinosaurian Time Travel) Page 24
